Share this article

Share

Maitlis, who attended a state comprehensive in Sheffield before winning a place at Cambridge, reveals: 'I went on strike, actually. I was like: "I'm just going to quietly stay away until you sort out the contract," because it seemed like a more efficient way of doing things.

'I never made a big deal of it, never told anyone, it was just between me and them.'

'I knew that, for example, Jeremy Vine and I were literally doing the same job [during election coverage],' Maitlis says

BBC high-ups were apparently so worried about the imminent publication of their top presenters' salaries in 2017 that they soon caved in and offered Maitlis a huge pay rise.

'You know, sunlight and disinfectant and all that sort of stuff,' she says. 'What's that amazing phrase: most people don't work against their interests if they don't have to.'

Her then Newsnight colleague Evan Davis gave her 'an extraordinarily generous' and 'quite faith-restoring' phone call, 'where he basically said: "This is all wrong and we must put it right." '

Maitlis's salary has now been raised from below £150,000 to £229,999, making her the joint highest-paid woman at BBC News.

Kate's brother James is handed godfather role

The Duchess of Cambridge's brother, James Middleton, has been chosen as a godparent.

Not of baby Archie — he won't be christened for a while — but of Theodore, the eight-month-old son of former Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews and Irish model Vogue Williams.

Middleton's sister, Pippa, is married to Spencer's elder brother, financier James Matthews.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual

We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.

You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.